Have you ever felt that you’re just not good enough? I spent too many years feeling that I wasn’t worthy and I let external factors degrade my self esteem. I had moments where I was brought down to my hands and knees agonizing over my own life choices and the circumstances that I found myself in.

The pain was unbearable and yet somehow I kept slipping back into old habits and bad behaviors.

I was trying to escape from my own potential because I couldn’t bridge the gap between who I thought I was and who I thought I wanted to be.

During the after effects of making mistakes or isolating myself from people who cared about me, I realized that what I was lacking was a higher purpose. Instant gratification from gaming, recreational drugs, and sugar WILL take a toll on you sooner than you realize. When it’s too late, then you will find yourself in rock bottom wishing that you had made better choices.

Rock Bottom is an opportunity take inventory of everything that you have going for you and find a way to rise up again.

I don’t need to be anybody but myself. Who I am is good enough.

I forgave myself for spending my youth playing video games, for smoking weed to escape, and for not asserting myself. I still have to forgive myself for making mistakes or impulsive decisions that detract from my goals in life and I think that’s totally okay because I’m not trying to be perfect. I’m just trying to use my life to have an impact on the world.

Only I can give meaning to my life and it starts by letting go of the things that have weighed me down.

My reality is what I make of it. I’m willing to be uncomfortable if it means that I’m moving forward and making a difference. I’m willing to put myself out there to be judged because I can’t think of anything worse than selfishly holding back on sharing whatever gifts I may have to give.

Focus on what you can do now.

It’s true that now is all that we ever have. Focus on what you can do now instead of stressing about what you have done. Maybe you just need to understand yourself better so that you can keep yourself in a position of strength and self-control while still allowing yourself to be vulnerable to love.

What is it that inspires people to get off their butts?

There are a lot of ideas that float through my mind on a daily basis. I’m always thinking about how to promote good postural alignment through exercise, I’m always thinking about expanding my knowledge of nutrition to educate others, and I’m ALWAYS thinking about glute activation (those who take my classes know the importance!).

Ultimately though, I’m in the business of motivation which is definitely a renewable resource even though at times it can feel scarce and elusive. But if it was easy, then it wouldn’t be worth fighting for.

Here are 4 big motivators for people in fitness.

We’ll start with the first fitness motivation…

1. That feeling

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For any avid exerciser, nothing beats that feeling.

It’s that feeling of being sweaty, wet, drenched, soaked, and accomplished.

It’s that feeling of knowing that today you did something good for yourself.

It’s that feeling that helped you kick your addictions or at the very least replace a harmful addiction with a helpful addiction.

It’s that feeling of recovery knowing that you used your body for what it was made for — which is to move.

It’s that post-workout feeling that changed your mindset, attitude, and affected you in a deeper place.

2. Sex appeal / Confidence

Even if you rid the world of all social media, magazines, movies, and television, you’d still know an attractive person when you see them (in action).

Fitness provides a certain aesthetic beyond toned abs and arms. I argue that beauty is more often displayed in motion than under any static circumstances. That’s why everybody can be beautiful if they choose to be.

It is my understanding that women can appreciate the bodies of other women and also that even straight men appreciate an athletic male body as a matter of inspiration and perhaps for no other reason than it looks good and serves a functional purpose.

Confident guy

Ultimately, confidence tends to be more alluring than any body part and what you really need is to be in a mindset of self-appreciation when it comes to your own body. I guarantee it is more productive to change the way you feel about yourself than changing the way your body looks. What’s interesting is that when you feel that you actually care about yourself, you’ll tend to eat healthier foods and your body transforms into a vessel of health and love in a matter of weeks, months, years.

3. Health / Longevity

I used to think that anti-aging was nothing more than a marketing term and it took me years to get beyond that. Now I realize that some people really do age slower when they take care. On one hand, you have genetics, and on the other hand you’ve got the lifestyle choices and environmental conditions that literally slow the aging of your human cells.

Unfortunately, a lot of people really do need to hit a very low part in their lives to make them realize that they NEED fitness. Often, a person will be diagnosed with a serious disease that perhaps cannot be cured, but may be managed through lifestyle intervention. Exercise, fitness, and nutrition truly is the holy grail for living a long, healthy, and worthwhile existence.

Here’s the short list of how fitness and nutrition can benefit a person:

Manage acute and chronic diseases

Prevent and cure many types of ailments

Maintain healthy mood and ward off negative mindsets

Promote positive community through fitness groups

Improve quality of life due to mobility, posture, strengthening of the bones, brains, tendons, joints, and ligaments

Reproductive health and fertility

If you take a diabetic person and have them train with me for six weeks, I guarantee their next lab tests will likely impress the doctor. I can change your life. Fitness can change your life.

4. Other people

Let’s face it, sometimes we need other people. I’ve realized there are many positive things/activities for me that I just don’t have the motivation to do alone. But, together we are stronger.

When I got into personal training, I studied the industry and realized that it is a growing industry and that I could make a life out of doing that which I am most passionate about. People benefit from coaching and I have no doubt about that.

Some lucky people have friends who are willing to take them to the gym with them and give them help, encouragement, and perhaps even expertise. I tell ya, if you have somebody like that in your life, treat them like gold and take them up on that offer. Most people would kill for that.

Personal training sessions can run between $60-$120 easy in any major city. Workout classes tend to run between $10-$40 so those can provide a great value when the intensity and attention is appropriate.

Meanwhile, as many coaches mention, don’t compare yourself to others. I have a friend who in my mind has become very successful in business and I remember one evening I was feeling down on myself and beating myself up for not having made the proper investments and put the work in. Instead of wallowing in self pity, I re-framed my thoughts and said to myself, “You know what, I’m fortunate to have successful people in my life who can inspire me and to have a network of successful people, because it is way better than any alternative!”

Believe in the process and put in work: Be consistent.

So here I am, writing this blog putting in the work on a Sunday night to inspire people for the week. Maybe I’ll never have the business acumen that others seem to have naturally, but none of that matters because as long as I put in the work, show up every day, and be intentional in my life, there’s nowhere to go but up. Give me the challenges, I dare you, and watch me overcome barriers left and right. So I can keep inspiring others!

And remember that you can support DreFitness.com by clicking this Amazon link before making a purchase at no extra cost to you. All revenue generated from being an Amazon.com affiliate will be re-invested into DreFitness.com.

How committed are you to lifestyle change?

While weight loss is the goal for many people, I truly like to emphasize the many reasons and benefits for lifestyle change in itself. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when people lose a ton of weight, the valuable part isn’t the fact that they lost weight — instead the most valuable part is that these individuals were able to change their habits and challenge their discipline day in and day out.

Every Body is capable of healthy changes, both inside and out.

Even though the human body can be seemingly complex at times, the formula is simple.

Step 1: Eat Nutrient Dense Foods

Step 2: Get 8 hours of sleep

Step 3: Have an active lifestyle and cultivate an athletic mindset no matter what level coordination you have.

The most challenging aspect of lifestyle change are the thoughts that go on inside your head. That’s why I believe it is fundamental to surround yourself with encouraging, positive, and motivating people who share some layer of goals with you.

You can definitely lose 30-40 lbs in eight weeks by exercising and working out with me.

On the flip side, you could also work out all of the time and still not lose any weight if the nutritional habits are poor. It’s just a fact of the matter that you cannot out-train a bad diet. Workouts are challenging and often give immediate gratification and sense of accomplishment once the workout is complete, yet your nutritional habits are responsible for the vast majority of your results.

Nutrition is responsible for all human biological function and linked strongly to gene expression as well as the state of your human ecosystem (read: trillions of bacteria cells that live in and on us).

As I mentioned earlier in this post, every body is capable of fat loss. There are genes that regulate how much fat you can lose and how fast you can burn that fat so yes every body is different in that regard. However, we are learning more and more that certain foods (nutrient dense foods) are actually able to increase the gene expression of genes which are responsible for fat loss. You are not limited by your genetics as much as you are limited by your mind. You must challenge your limiting beliefs about food so that you can cultivate a lifestyle which supports healthy nutritional habits as part of your core values.

Moreover, for your biological processes to be in a healthy, functioning state, you must digest healthful, nutrient-dense foods on a regular basis. Food contains lots of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, amino acids, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and other currently undiscovered components which likely support human health. I know this, because I know that which I do not know. The wisdom of nature must be valued, so let thy food be thy medicine. Hundreds of thousands of years of human knowledge should be honored. Millions of years of evolution suggests that plants are good for us and chemicals (aka processed foods) are not. I’m sure there are parts of an apple that are good for us that science will never discover, and that’s okay. Don’t overthink it.

Of course you need to decrease your calories in order to achieve weight loss.

That doesn’t mean that you should allow yourself to fall into a dangerous mindset of restriction. I 100% believe that healthy nutritional habits are far more realistic to sustain when you are able to have an abundance mentality. You literally have an abundance of healthy food options if you are willing to be creative and seek knowledge. Never settle.

In our modern era, we have access to more nutrients than even our paleo ancestors. The difference between paleo ancestors and ourselves is that we seem to have become burdened by choice. Even worse, there are multi-billion dollar corporations which prefer to mislead us through advertising and through government lobbying and these groups certainly do not have our best interests in mind.

Here is your challenge: Get the MOST amount of nutrients with the fewest calories.

If you eat the most nutrient dense foods, then you will always have an abundance of food that fills you up, energizes you, and gets you ready for a successful tomorrow.

Fiber (Try to get at least 30 grams per day which is the government recommendation to reduce risk of colon cancer. Fiber also helps to maintain healthy blood sugar / diabetes management, also insulin senstivity and feed the beneficial bacteria in the gut… of course all of these things are related to fat loss and health).

Enzymes — even though our bodies can create enzymes, our ability to do so decreases as we age. A prominent doctor in Japan argues for a sort of mythical “source enzyme” that once is depleted, then we die. So you must eat foods that support healthy enzyme production (such as the foods listed above). Additionally, you can also eat foods that contain active enzymes which are raw foods and raw probiotic foods. Cooking and the heating process tends to kill enzymes (even though cooking does release/enhance other nutrients), so you still want to get some raw food and raw probiotic food in your diet. Related: Top Probiotic Food / supplements

I’m sure there are other nutrients to consider, these are just the considerations that come to the top of my head when I’m choosing foods to eat mindfully.

The key is to educate yourself because you’ll find yourself making better choices simply by having a better foundation of knowledge.

Knowledge truly is power. I encourage you to read about the benefits of real, natural foods and I also encourage you to read about the harmful effects of processed, junk, sweets, etc even if it is uncomfortable to read about. Take time in your day to follow my blog, and/or follow other trustworthy sources online or otherwise.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Growing up, my father would always say, “everything in moderation.” I believed in that phrase for a while, but now I realize that there are some things that you should simply never do or never have. And that’s okay. Some things are just. not. worth it.

The important point is that you are caring about yourself in your lifestyle. If you have to be 100% on and then when you fall off you go food binge and drink, then that says that maybe you’re an on again off again type person who isn’t willing to be committed to themselves. Let yourself have a lifestyle that allows for mistakes, forgiveness, and moving forward.

If you think that you have to be on a restrictive diet to be successful, then why aren’t you successful yet? If it has worked for you in the past, but only temporarily, then did it really work for you? I want you to engage in thought processes that allow for long term success.

Sometimes your thoughts will come crashing inside like waves in a storm and that’s when you just need to hunker down and care for yourself, otherwise you’re going to drown. Those are the hard times.

Other times, your thoughts will be like an oasis in the desert where you think everything is just perfection, but maybe it is just a mirage? Those are even harder times because it forces you to face the truth: Sometimes you have to stay hungry. And that’s okay too. But if you’re planning your meals properly, then you’ll have nutrient dense food waiting for you around the next corner.

How much do you really care about yourself?

We all have struggles. I just need you to take a moment to think about all of the actions that you take on a daily basis that demonstrate self-care. When you are mindful, when you plan for success, and when you surrender your entitlement, then you will find yourself in a whole new reality of empowerment.

Love is action. Good luck, my people! Stay tuned for more, subscribe to my brand new YouTube channel and click that Follow Blog button on the top left (show sidebar for mobile users).

It takes work to make progress.

Entitlement is a huge problem nowadays. Trust me, I’m part of the millennial generation and I’ve had to have a full on battle with my own perceptions of entitlement in order to make progress in my health, fitness, personal, and everything else.

If you still haven’t made the progress in fitness that you’ve desired, then read on… Continue reading →